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Go Learn Something

Education is a fundamental ingredient in individual, organizational and societal success.  In a world fueled by global competition, technological innovation, and high speed communication, education matters now more than ever.  Recently I discovered something called The Khan Academy, an amazing online resource for education. The site is free and features instructional videos and interactive exercises on […]

Knock, Knock, Knock!

When you hear that bang on the door of life, it is important to check it out. Sure there are a fair share of times when you pull the door open to find nobody on the porch, but every now and again something special is waiting on the other side of the door. Why am […]

Dead Cat Marketing

Suppose your business sells something to a customer.  Following the sale, you gather no information about them.  Instead you send the customer out the door and off into the universe, hoping they will come back again someday.  In the time that follows, you make no direct or indirect attempt to determine if the customer is […]

Trick or Treat

With Halloween just one day away, Trick or Treat is definitely on the brain.  So in the spirit of the season ask yourself this question.  Metaphorically speaking, what are you giving your customers these days? Tricks or Treats?  If you are offering treats, are they like those old, stale, home-made popcorn balls or are they […]

Summing Up SummitUp

Yesterday I got to celebrate my birthday by having my very own social media conference – SummitUp.  I highly recommend this as a way to celebrate your next birthday.  (actually this was purely coincidence, but a nice one none the less.)  The day was simply amazing.  To give you an idea of how well things […]

SummitUp

For my birthday this year, I am getting something really cool –  a social media conference right here in Dayton.  “Yea, Just what I always wanted, a conference!” No, the conference was not put on for that reason, but it is a nice coincidence.    The event is called SummitUp, it will take place on October […]

Synergize

Habit 6: Synergize Synergy is where all of the previous habits come together.  It is the payoff.  To quote Stephen Covey “Synergy is the highest activity in all of life.”  “The essence of synergy is to value the differences.”  By doing so, the human gift of creativity can be levered to produce new and exciting […]

Seek First to Understand

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood Habit 5, Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood, is a continuation of Habit 4, Think Win/Win.  It is the idea that to truly think win/win, one must start with listening.  Thus the idea that one should seek first to understand, then to be […]

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Social Media – Be Proactive

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Social Media – Habit 1: Be Proactive What does it mean to Be Proactive?  I view being proactive as taking responsibility for how you interact with the world. Stephen Covey discusses the idea that there is a space between stimulus and response, and that we as human beings, possess the […]

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Social Media – Introduction

I am always looking for ways to better understand social media.  One source of explanatory information I find to be surprisingly useful is a book that was written long before the days of Facebook, Google, and Twitter – Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  You may be wondering what Covey’s book could possibly have […]